|
Vienna orchestra 'red carded'
01/01/2008 21:52 - (SA)
Vienna - The Vienna Philharmonic's renowned New Year's concert played off a football metaphor on Tuesday for an audience of tens of millions across 54 countries.
Headed for the first time by a French conductor, the January 1 musical programme pays homage to the waltz canon of various members of Austria's Strauss composer family - but was updated with references to Austria hosting, along with neighbouring Switzerland, the 2008 European championships in June.
Eighty-three-year-old orchestra head Georges Pretre introduced Josef Strauss's Sport Polka by blowing a referee's whistle and brandishing the official Euro 2008 ball as musicians swirled red and white scarves in the air.
The conductor and his lead violinist later flashed yellow then red cards at each other in a jocular exchange.
The concert also nodded towards the biggest sporting event of 2008, the Beijing Olympics, alongside a wink to Pretre's nationality. The veteran opened with Johann Strauss's Napoleon March, composed in support of France's efforts in the Crimean War against Russia (1854-55), and included the Chinese Gallop of Johann Strauss.
Closing with traditional highlights, Johann Strauss's Blue Danube/i> and the Radetzkymarsch by his father, the concert left viewers and listeners from Albania to the United States enthralled with a three-minute standing ovation given to Pretre at Vienna's famous Musikverein hall.
Pretre was only the 12th conductor to wield the baton since the 1939 inauguration of a concert where tickets are snapped up worldwide a year in advance, and which provides a major earner from CD and DVD rights, releases of which are scheduled for 7 and 14 January respectively.
|
South Africa
